A side view of the main altar at Cahal Pech where Mayan rulers kept watch on the once bustling centre. -- Photo by Phil Raby

"We've got to see ruins," my husband Phil declared on our fifth day of a week-long visit to Belize, the beautiful, tiny country bathing by the warm Caribbean sea just south of Mexico.

We had done the beach thing, trekked through a rainforest and visited a few of the small communities dotting the country's coast. Adding a visit to one of the Mayan ruins in Belize would complete our holiday.

The problem is, some of the ruins are quite hard to get to.

One can only be reached by taking a hand-cranked ferry over a river and others are a deep hike into an inhospitable rainforest.

With a toddler and a teenager (the latter none too happy with all the mosquito bites she had collected so far), perhaps reaching remote Mayan ruins wouldn't be the best way to end our vacation.

We were disappointed, but not for long. Luckily, our guidebook pointed us towards Cahal Pech. These ruins, located in Western Belize, are the perfect place for families to discover together.

Just two minutes from the quaint town of San Ignacio, the site is easily accessible by car, making it a great place for families with small children (and temperamental teenagers) to explore.

Established in 1,000 BC, Cahal Pech was an important city by ancient Mayan standards, containing over 30 buildings spread out over two acres. The town, however, was mysteriously abandoned around 800 AD.

A drive up a small hill within seconds of leaving St. Ignacio took us right into the parking lot just outside of the Cahal Pech Visitor's Center and Museum. A $2.50 (U.S.) fee got us not only onto the grounds, but also inside an expansive museum detailing Mayan history through artifacts and even a miniature model of the ruins.

A short walk down a rough path (don't take a stroller, a back-pack child carrier is the way to go if you have a baby or toddler) and we felt totally isolated as the jungle surrounded us.

But that feeling didn't last for long.

In the shadow of the ruins we found a group of people working under a blue tarp. A couple of them acknowledged our presence with a curt hello, but quickly got back to their careful digging of Mayan artifacts. One of them stopped long enough to tell us that they were archeology students from a Texas university as he wiped the sweat dripping from his brow.

A stone staircase provides the entry to a magnificent plaza. At the top, we looked into the area and wondered how people could describe these ruins as the least spectacular in Belize.

That may be the case according to our travel guide, but we felt dwarfed as we descended into the plaza with its imposing stone altar.

Ancient archways lead into the interior plazas of Cahal Pech, a major Mayan ceremonial center. -- Photo by Phil Raby

We learned at the Vistor's Centre that Cahal Pech was also a major ceremonial center, probably because of its placing on a tall hill.

It's true name, however, isn't known. Cahal Pech means Place of Ticks, a name derived from the fact that the area was used as a cattle pasture in the 1950s and became a breeding ground for ticks.

At that time, very little was known about these ruins because the jungle had mostly camouflaged the ancient city. It was only when reports of widespread looting from royal tombs came to light that the Belizean Archeology Department decided to perform a site "salvage operation." That was 1969, but the looting continued during the 70's and 80's.

It wasn't until 1988 that the site's cultural value was recognized and the town of St. Ignacio took steps to stop the looting while organizing a large excavation with help from international entities, including the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and Trent University.

The work continues to this day as archeologists try to find out why the city was abandoned and continue to uncover artifacts, such as pottery vessels and decorated jade pieces buried deep in mounds of dirt.

U.S. Archeology students carefully dig for Mayan artifacts on the grounds of Cahal Pech in Belize. -- Photo by Phil Raby

To date, seven plazas containing 34 structures have been discovered. Those structures include temples, residences, ball courts and even a sweathouse. The grounds and all of its interesting buildings can be explored in about 90 minutes, making it the perfect amount of time for a family to explore.

To learn more about Mayan culture visit: www.travelbelize.org

Travel writer A.P. Rodrigues can be contacted through R + R Creative

Visitors are dwarfed by the courtyard of the Cahal Pech ruins, which were inhabited by Mayans from about 1,000 BC to 800 AD. -- Photo by Phil Raby